Where Nobody Knows Us
by Grunge Sponge
Summary: "I wish I could just go someplace where nobody knows me."  Chris has finally gotten his wish, with best friend Gordie and a few other oddballs, they have entered college.  Chaos ensues.
1. Hustling

**Disclaimer: I do not own Stand By Me or the characters of Stand By Me, I'm merely a fan and inventor of the characters you don't recognize.**

PS: Reviews are awesome. (hint, hint)

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"You know, one of these days, someone's going to call you out on this." Chris mumbled, leaning against the pool table, a bottle of Coke in his hands.

Peyton made a face, poised over the table with a pool cue lining up her next shot, "Please Chambers, I'm a woman, they think I'm drunk-"

"When really you're just well on your way -"

"And this is how I pay my tuition, now shush or I'll miss." Her face folded in concentration, there was a fraction of a second between this shift in concentration and the cue hitting the ball. The clacking sound of the cue ball colliding with the eight ball and sending it rocketing into the pocket elicited an excited, albeit tipsy yelp from her lips. Standing, she leaned against the pool table and grinned widely at her opponent. "You owe me a beer."

"As if you haven't had enough already."

Without looking, Peyton snatched Chris's Coke bottle from his hand and took a swig, "I'm fine, promise. After this, I start betting money."

The blue-eyed boy beside her raised his eyebrows, "You know the only reason I'm here right now is to make sure you don't get raped or something, right?"

Peyton rolled her eyes and took the beer from her opponent and sighed, "So, what do you say we raise the stakes a little?"

At closing time, Peyton was half stumbling out of the bar counting her money with Chris walking close behind her, ready to catch her should she fall. "Once again, the ditzy act prevails!"

"Act?"

Peyton snickered wildly, "Shut up, this will feed me for like -"

"- Two days."

"I don't eat that much!" The outrage was clear in her voice. "Besides, it would help if you and Gordie didn't stop by and eat all of my food when I'm not looking."

"We don't eat _all_ of it... just... a good portion."

"Which leaves me with an empty tummy, poised by the door waiting for my unsuspecting room mate to come in so I can devour her face!"

There was a moment of silence, and finally, "You know what? I'm just... it's too easy. Continue."

Peyton was the kind of girl who, in high school, probably would have never had anything to do with Chris and Gordie. Her family wasn't rich or anything, but they did have significantly more money that Chris did. It also had nothing to do with the fact that she was judgmental or anything, it certainly wasn't that. She always just came across as one of those girls who hung out with the beautiful people, the kind of people who, more often than not, wouldn't even spare a glance at people like Chris.

Finally, after what had felt like an eternity to Chris, he'd gotten Peyton to her dorm and rolled his eyes, "Go sleep it off."

Yawning, Peyton nodded and wrestled her key into the doorknob, turning it and walking in. When the door closed, he heard a loud bang, followed by a thump and Peyton's laughter. He paused for a moment, listening to make sure she was okay before rolling his eyes and walking to the other side of the building to his dorm.

"Chambers! The hell man, you went out bar hopping and didn't tell me?"

Chris rubbed his forehead, "Toby, seriously... it wasn't that exciting." He stripped down to his boxers and crawled into bed pulling the covers on top of him, Toby was still griping loudly about Chris not including him in Peyton's nightly excursion. "Man, seriously... if you don't shut up, I'm going to smother you."

"Okay, all right. Jesus."

**AN: All right, so, I know it's short, and the next chapter will be longer with more characters and whatnot, I just kind of wanted to start off with a baseline. So yeah. Review and I'll update! =]**


	2. Good Morning

"GOOOORDIIIIE!" The pounding outside of his door sent the doe-eyed boy jerking into a sitting position, wild-eyed. Letting out a groan, he clambered off of his bed, pulled on a pair of jeans and walked over to the door. He opened it and raised his eyebrows, the blonde at the door was performing what appeared to be some sort of bathroom dance.

"Rae... it's like... I don't even know what time it is and – are you okay?"

"Fine, just really excited."

"About?"

"I have food again. Now put your shirt on so we can celebrate."

There was a moment of silence between the two, then: "Celebrate how? By eating?"

Rae's features fell, "Well... we could eat the school's food? Just not mine. Because it's mine. And you can't have it."

"Will there be coffee involved?"

"Were you seriously sleeping?"

"Do you always answer a question with another question?"

"Why are you being grumpy?"

Rolling his eyes, Gordie turned back into his dorm and grabbed a shirt off the floor. He held it to his nose and gave it a quick whiff before deeming it clean enough to wear and slipped it on.

"Uhm... okay... that's gross."

"I'm out of quarters!"

Rae threw her hands into the air, "for the love of God, Gordie, I will give you quarters just _please_ don't ever do that again in my presence."

Meanwhile, Chris was fighting a losing battle trying to get Peyton out of bed. "Come on, we have class in an hour."

"It's too bright!" Peyton groaned, stuffing her head further under the blankets.

Finally, Chris had managed to yank her out of her bed by her foot, immediately reeling in horror. He turned, clapping his hands over his eyes, "Oh God why are you naked?"

"I'm not naked. I'm in my bra and underwear."

"Well why didn't you warn me?"

"Because I didn't think you would rip me out of my bed like King Kong snatching that unsuspecting blonde actress from a window!" Standing, Peyton opened the bottom drawer, which was one of the two drawers that belonged to her and grabbed one of her boyfriend's shirts and pulled it on. "Okay, it's safe. You can turn around now."

Chris turned around, sagging in relief at the site of Peyton covered in clothes. "Seriously, why do you sleep like that?"

"Because it's comfortable and I was drunk and clothes are way too constricting and why do I feel like you're judging me right now?" She paused, "Wait... how the hell did you get in here?"

"Kelsey let me in."

Peyton pulled a face and started rooting around for a pair of pants, "Is she gone?"

"Uh... I think?"

"Good." She found a pair of pajama pants and pulled them on, yanking her hair up into a sloppy bun and sighed. "I hate her right now."

"What'd she do this time?"

"She broke my damn hot plate! I let her borrow the thing once and she breaks it! This is why I can't have nice things, Chris, because I get paired up with girls like her, who have absolutely no regard for anyone else's belongings and I paid a lot of money for that freaking thing only to have her break it!"

Chris raised his eyebrows, "Uhm... you know you can use mine whenever you need it, right?"

"That's not the point." She snapped, crossing her arms tightly across her chest.

Deciding that pushing the issue wasn't worth the energy, Chris just shrugged it off. "So... Rae has food. She and Gordie are celebrating in the caf."

"When she has food?"

"Yup."

Peyton shrugged it off and pulled on her shoes, not even bothering to mess with socks, "Leave us boogie then!"

"What?"

"Nothing. Just walk."

Chris walked a few steps behind her out of the building and across campus to the food court. The fact alone that she was wearing her boyfriend's shirt bothered him. It wasn't that he was jealous, or anything, but he'd seen how they interacted and didn't much care for it. He spoke down to her like she was a small child, and, rather than snap back at him like she would had it been Chris or Gordie, Peyton had just developed a habit of turning the other way and trying to ignore it. He didn't think it would bother him as much had he not seen this kind of behavior between his mother and father, when he wasn't beating the hell out of her, and between Eyeball and just about every girl he'd ever slept with.

"Helloooooo, Earth to Spaceman!... Chambers... PAY ATTENTION TO ME."

Chris jerked out of his daze and glanced up at Peyton, trying not to look annoyed, "Yeah?"

"Did you hear anything I've been saying?"

"Uh... no?"

For a moment, Chris thought he'd smelled O-zone. He heaved a sigh and waited patiently for the redhead to snap, but instead, she just grinned broadly and gave him a playful shove, "Dude, I was testing. I didn't say anything."

"Gah, where the hell are they?" Rae grumbled, glaring down at her cheese fries, "I sent Chris to grab Ginger-vitis like... an hour ago."

"Well..."

"Gordie, seriously, what is it with you and the ick factor lately?" Her face curled into a scowl. "That is totally inappropriate for so many reasons, I don't even feel like I need to get into it with you."

Gordie raised his eyebrows, still hunched over his cup of coffee as if protecting it from predators. "How is it inappropriate?"

Rae sucked in a deep breath, "well, let's see here. First of all, she has a boyfriend - "

" - who sucks - "

"Doesn't matter. Secondly, uhm, it's Chris and Peyton and that is so wrong on so many different levels because... well... oh Jesus, do I really have to get into this with you? They are not back at Peyton's dorm having mad ape sex."

"Nah, instead I just yanked her half naked out of her bed and wrestled her into some clothes while she bitched about her room mate breaking her hot plate."

"Half nak- what?" Gordie was sitting at full attention now.

Peyton smacked Chris hard in the chest and sat down, "Seriously, did you have to throw that out there? Just tell the whole freaking campus."

"What about being half naked?"

Peyton let out a sound similar to that of a half-growl, half-snort and buried her face in her arms at the table. It was way too damn early for this.


	3. In All Seriousness

"Rae, c'mon you really need to pay attention." Gordie insisted, leaning further over his book.

Rae shushed him and turned up the radio, holding a finger in the air. Some broadcaster's voice came over, interrupting the chorus of _California Dreamin'_. "... Another troop is to be sent back to the states next week, be sure you're ready to welcome our boys home. More air raids are -" at that, Rae shut the radio off and jumped out of her chair, marching to the door.

"Rae, what the hell are you doing?"

"Sorry, I have to call home." She swung open the door, Gordie right behind her, and ran for the payphones, simultaneously digging through her pockets. Gordie watched her with a strange kind of amusement as she jammed a coin into the slot and dialed feverishly, holding the receiver to her ear.

He opened his mouth to say something, but -

"Dad, hi. Look, I heard on the radio... they're sending some boys home..." she trailed off, listening to the voice on the other line. Her expression, which before had been one of nervous excitement, soon fell into a strange combination of disappointment and anger. "Oh... okay, sorry I woke you up... no, it's just, you know, I heard and thought... maybe Mike- … Okay. I love you too... yeah, I will. Goodnight."

She had barely said 'goodnight' before she'd slammed the receiver back down. Swearing loudly, she leaned back and held her head in her hands. Gordie had known about her brother, who had been drafted and sent off to Vietnam several months ago. This constant calling home whenever she'd heard about a tragedy or troop coming home had turned into a fairly regular ritual for her. Had Gordie been paying more attention to her and the radio, and not that stupid history book, he would have seen it coming.

"You all right?"

"I just really thought it'd be him this time, you know?"

Gordie nodded and sighed, of course he understood, however, it was a different kind of understanding. Denny was long dead when the draft had begun, but he felt a significant amount of sympathy for her having dealt with the same absence. The difference for him, was that Denny was never coming back, and despite what people on the streets were saying, Mike still had a chance of coming home.

"Is there anything I can do?"

Rae shrugged, pulling herself up. "Can we just... I don't know, I can't study right now."

"We could annoy Chris and Peyton."

Her quiet snicker told Gordie that the idea was appealing to her as far as getting her mind off of things went. When they got to Peyton's dorm, they spotted Kelsey who, strangely, was sitting outside the door with a book open in her lap.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, Tyson is being a stupid monkey and Peyton is on edge 'cause she's got that project or whatever due Friday." Kelsey muttered, waving her hand in the air; she recited this as though it were choreographed. "So she's pissed at him, he's all jealous and pissed at her and I can't focus with all these negative waves."

As if on cue, Tyson's shouted erupted from inside the room. "I TOLD you I didn't like you hanging out with him all the time, Peyton!"

"Oh Jesus Christ, Tyson, he's my friend! And I'm not going to stop hanging out with him just because you've got it in your head that something is going on when it's not!"

Gordie and Rae both exchanged looks. Never, in the three months Peyton had been seeing Tyson had been seeing each other, had either of them heard Peyton talking back to him.

"Why are you being such a bitch today?"

"BECAUSE I'VE GOT TOO MUCH TO DO TO WASTE MY TIME WORRYING ABOUT YOUR FUCKING JEALOUSY ISSUES!"

"How long have they been going at it like this?"

Kelsey glanced at her watch, "'bout forty-five minutes." She shook her head, "Tyson's a nice guy and everything, but seriously. He takes a lot of this stuff way too far. I mean, it's just Chris." She shrugged and ran a hand through her hair.

"Wanna find Chris and give them time to cool down?" Rae looked up at Gordie uneasily.

Gordie nodded and started down the hallway. "Has she ever lost her mind like that before?"

"Yeah, I think once when she got back from visiting with her family. Wasn't that bad, though." Rae paused, "Do you think Chris will even be in his room?"

"Probably. He said something earlier about Toby keeping him up all night. Since Toby's out with his girlfriend, he's probably trying to get some rest."

"Aw, shouldn't we let him sleep?"

"Pffft, no."

"Men suck." Peyton announced, dropping into a stool at the bar. "Can I have a beer, Maggie?"

Chris opened his mouth to ask what Tyson had done, but Rae touched his arm and cut him off. "How's the project going?"

The redhead made a low grumbling noise and took a long drink of her beer. "I've only got a few more hours or so left on it. So... I've decided to take a break."

"You planning on remembering your name tonight?"

"That was only once, Gordie. Tequila was involved, it had been a long week and I got carried away." She took a long swig from her beer and shook her head. "Besides, I just want to wind down with a few beers and forget my dickhole boyfriend exists for a few hours."

"You playing pool tonight?"

She shook her head, "Not wearing a low-cut shirt."

Rae shook her head, "What's the function of the low cut shirt."

The redhead grinned, "Distraction. If I lean forward when they're about to shoot, throws 'em off and they miss." She shrugged, "It's all mind games really. Act drunk or stupid, look pretty... have a vagina."

Gordie choked on his beer.

"So where's Tyson now?" Rae asked, glancing over at Peyton.

"Probably still at the dorm. I kind of stormed out on him, and I think he's expecting me to make nice with him when I get back." She finished with another long swig of her beer and went silent, glaring at the grain of the bar.

Chris knew her well enough to just keep his mouth shut and let her brood it off. He ordered another Coke and leaned over toward Gordie. "What the hell happened between those two?"

His brown-eyed friend shook his head. "From what Kelsey told me, he started in on her, she got pissed and went off on him. The project she has for philosophy is really getting to her, I guess."

"Isn't that only for extra credit?"

"Have you seen her grades in philosophy?"

"Touche." He leaned against the bar and watched as Peyton and Rae stood to go to the bathroom. "What the hell does she even see in him?"

"Bad taste in guys?"

He shook his head, "Gordie... this is a bad thing just waiting to happen. Don't you _see that?_ That douchebag is just getting worse and worse the longer they've been dating. Something's going to happen."

"Chris, you're relating this way too closely to the shit that goes on in your house." Gordie held a hand up to keep Chris from interrupting. "Look, I don't like it either, okay? She's my friend too, and I hate to see what Tyson does to her. But if you really think that he's going to do anything that could seriously hurt her -"

"- He already does!"

"Who does what?" Peyton asked, re-seating herself at the bar.

Chris focused on his soda bottle as though it were about to do a trick. It was bad enough knowing that, as he as he sat with his friends in The Hideaway, his father was treating his family in an only slightly more aggressive way. It was a difficult thing for him to verbalize, especially knowing that, although he had gotten out of that house, he still had a mother and siblings who were not as lucky. The thought of going that far from home, only to see the same thing happen to someone he had developed a significant amount of feelings for in the last year, made him feel unspeakably ill.

Standing, Chris took her arm, "Come outside and talk to me for a second."

Peyton gave him a curious look and stood up, stepping outside of the bar. "What's up?"

Even though he knew he would have to choose his words very carefully, Chris still couldn't stop himself from blurting out: "What do you see in him?"

She shrugged, "He's a good guy when he's not being a total asshole."

"Yeah, but nine times out of ten, he's a total asshole."

"Chris-"

"You don't deserve to be treated like that, Peyton. I mean, what would your family think if they knew this was how your boyfriend acted toward you?"

"My family still thinks I'm a virgin."

Chris groaned, "I'm not kidding!"

"Neither am I. They still really think I'm a virgin."

"Peyton, for once could you just quit being a smartass and listen to me?"

The redhead crossed her arms. "All right, you have the floor."

Chris let out a sigh, "I've kept my mouth shut about this for a long time. You're my friend and I don't want you to get pissed off at me about this, but damnit Peyton, it's just getting old. I know you care for the guy, but don't you think enough is enough?"

She just stared at him, a mixed expression on her face. Pulling her arms tighter across her chest, she shook her head; "Look, I'll think about it, okay?" She hugged him and gave his arm a tug. "C'mon. It's cold out here." 

* * *

**All right... this is chapter three.**

As said before: I only own the characters you don't recognize.

PS: Review!


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